I need the interpretation of the verse that says, “In my father’s house there are many mansions.”

That statement is found in John 14:3. Let’s read John 14:1-2, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Let’s go back and read John 13:1, “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” The time of the Lord’s crucifixion was imminent so He begins to prepare His disciples to carry on without His physical presence. Certainly the Lord’s words caused the disciples to become distressed. The Lord begins chapter 14 by saying, “Let not your heart be troubled.” It was not the Lord’s will for His disciples to be in stress. Neither is it His will for any of His children to be stressed today. Therefore, He speaks words of comfort to His disciples. He encourages His disciples to have the same faith in Him that they have in God. After all, Jesus IS God, so He assures His disciples that they can have full faith in Him and all He says.

The Lord then speaks of His Father’s house. Previously, He had referred to the temple as His Father’s house. In rebuking those who sold merchandise outside the temple, the Lord said in John 2:16, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” Here, though, He is speaking of an eternal abode in the Glory. Of course, the Lord Jesus belongs there, because He is the Son of God. Yet, there are MANY MANSIONS in His Father’s house. There is room for many to be there. If there was no room for them in His Father’s house, He would have been honest and told them.

Thankfully, there are many mansions for many people, and the Lord Jesus has prepared a way for us to be a part of that eternal dwelling place. “I go to prepare a place for you.” It was common for someone to “go ahead” of others to secure a place. Numbers 10:33 says, “And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them.” We read in Mark 14:12-13, “And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.”

Now, the Lord speaks of going ahead to prepare a place for His people. It was by the Lord’s going on to Calvary to die for our sins, by rising from the dead, and then by his ascension into Heaven that He has prepared a place for us there. It is the desire of the Lord that we be with Him eternally. He prayed in John 17:24, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” Where is Christ today? Hebrews 9:24 tells us, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but INTO HEAVEN ITSELF, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

The Lord also promised His disciples (and us), “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3) His promise to “come again” for us has not yet happened, but for the believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, it could happen any moment. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Maybe today! (284.10)